On a sunny summer day at Oregon State University, before an audience of researchers and representatives from the construction industry, a Knife River-owned ready-mix cement truck poured a batch of concrete. By all appearances the concrete looked similar to concrete poured at a construction site with one notable exception. This concrete had wood in it — more specifically cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). If this test batch of concrete yields the same strength and curing results in a real-world setting as has been found in the laboratory, CNC very likely could be a gamechanger for the concrete industry. Read more…